Hope
by fallenskywalker
Summary: After Ahsoka left the Jedi Order she had to fight a last battle; the final one. She had to face something completely new; something she wasn't familiar with yet. It was the longest and most debilitating battle she'd ever had to fight. It was hard and she did totally change.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or Star Wars the Clone Wars.

* * *

**Prologue:**

After Ahsoka left the Jedi Order she went to Lux. They found a little house on a random planet and lived there together. Everything seemed greatly, they lived in peace without Sith Lords, Separatists and battle droids, without war. Just in peace and Ahsoka did really like Lux, she might even loved him...

A few years later three Jedi Generals were going on a mission. It wasn't special, just like every other day in their life. The generals were Obi-Wan Kenobi, Plo Koon and Anakin Skywalker. After his former Padawan had left him, Anakin wasn't the same anymore. He kind of lost the trust in the Jedi. He wasn't in the temple that often anymore, as soon as he came home to Coruscant from a mission, he went to Padme straight away. His former master noticed that and tried to comfort him, but to no effect. Anyway the mission was on Coruscant, so they hadn't a long way to go there. They were going to a building in the less rich part of the city, because the Jedi believed there was information which will bring them victory about the still lasting Clone Wars.

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**Chapter 1:**

They ran into it, into the old building which stood in the middle of nowhere. The building looked pretty old and it had some flaws. The door was open, so it was easy to get inside. Inside they came along a hallway and checked each room for something, someone, anything this trip was worth it, but they haven't found something or someone yet. They got an anonymous tip for this pace, but it hadn't something remarkable in it...yet. They couldn't find something on the main floor. Well, you can't say it like this because the generals sensed a strong presence of the dark side even if 'it' blurred his imprints. That's the reason why they couldn't locate 'it' and it's also the reason why they didn't even know what they were looking for. They came downstairs to the next floor and the longer they went along this hallway the more they could sense another creature in there. It was something familiar, but also something they haven't sensed in a too long time. Normally the person is stronger in the force, but what they sensed now was just a little blade of grass in a big meadow. The generals split up and each one went with a few clones to check the rest of the rooms. One of the three groups, leaded by Anakin Skywalker, one of the best Jedi ever, came closer to the last room and the place the familiar force signature came from.

Two clones opened the door after Skywalker had ordered them to do so. As the door had opened they got in, the blasters ready to shoot and Skywalkers lightsaber ignited, but as they saw her they were unable to do anything. They just stood there in shock. In one edge of the little room she laid unconscious on the cold floor. Skywalker turned his lightsaber off and the clones dropped their weapons. Skywalker ran to his former Padawan. He sat on the cold floor, leaned against the mold-infested wall and he held her in his arms.

"We need a corpsman! Immediately!" he yelled at his troopers. The captain of the company called the other companies with his wrist communicator, because they had corpsmen with them. Ahsoka, the former Padawan, laid still in his arms and was still unconscious when the others came. The Jedi Plo Koon and Obi-Wan Kenobi kneed down next to them and laid Ahsoka on the ground, so the corpsmen could check on her.

"She needs to get out of here, she needs medical treatment or she will die." one of the clones said and gave her an oxygen mask. They put her on a stretcher and three clones convoyed her outside.

They brought her to the ship and Skywalker asked his friend and former master. "Did you find anything else?" while he stood up and watched the clones leaving with Ahsoka.

"No, the other rooms were empty, but a ship started just before we arrived at the landing field." Kenobi explained and put his hand on Anakin's shoulder.

"She will be okay." Kenobi tried to comfort him, but Skywalker put Kenobi's hand away and followed the clones and his Padawan. Kenobi sighed and looked at Plo Koon who stood next to him.

Anakin sat next to Ahsoka and held her hand while a medidroid subserved her. The ship started a few minutes ago, but the generals Plo Koon and Obi-Wan Kenobi stayed at the building with some clone troopers to save the information which were on the computers. The others arrived at the Jedi temple minutes later and master Che did already wait for Ahsoka. Skywalker went out of the ship with the unconscious Ahsoka on the stretcher next to him. They went inside into the temple with master Che. They brought Ahsoka to the medical care unit. Anakin sat down next to her again after they laid her in a bed in a room. He held her hand and Jedi master Vokara Che, a Jedi healer, gave her medical treatment.

"She should wake up the next hours, but we don't know her mental status, so before she wakes up you better go out of the room and I can check on her alone." she said to Skywalker and left.

She didn't look like his young seventeen years old Padawan anymore, she changed and not just because of all the wounds she had.

* * *

She had been through mental, physical and emotional pain and she had gotten marks she will never recover from, he knew it, but he also knew how strong his former Padawan was. He tried to imagine what she has gone through the last months or even years, but he stopped, he didn't want to imagine how she went through torture and pain. He took her hand and held it up to him. He kissed her fingers which were wrapped around his hand.

Then he whispered "I'm sorry. I wasn't there for you the last years and I'm so sorry. If I had known what you were going through I would have come to save you, but after you left me I had to move on over you and now you're back and I promise you, I will do anything to make you feel better. I won't let you go a second time, Ahsoka; I will be here for you."

He kissed her hand once more and whispered even quieter "Now I'm here and I will always be there for you. You're not alone." he finished his little speech and Ahsoka opened her eyes, but closed them again immediately.

"I'm here for you, Ahsoka." he whispered and went out of the room. Master Che came in to check on her and Skywalker stood outside and observed everything through the glass wall. Time passed and it felt like hours waiting there to be allowed to go to her.

After what felt like forever Master Che came out and Ahsoka fell asleep.

"How's she?" Skywalker asked first. Master Che sighed

"She went through a lot the last months or maybe even years. She didn't get only tortured physically; she also got through a lot of mental pain. She isn't able to trust anyone, she's terribly frightened. She will probably not speak to anyone, but we will find out about the complete seriousness when she's awake. She has to learn to trust again. Marks will stay and she won't completely recover. We have to wait and look how she will do the next days. It will be hard for her." Skywalker listened, crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked at his Padawan.

"Can I go to her?" he asked after a while of silence.

"Tomorrow. She has to rest first and she should be awake when someone visits her.", she answered and left. Skywalker stayed there looking at Ahsoka. She looked horrible, to be honest. Her left montral and lek were broken off and it looked like burns all over the left half of her face. The white pigmentation was faintly visible. The complete left side of her body had burns everywhere. On her right side were smaller wounds. It hurt seeing her like this and not being able to help her anywise. He wanted to take her pain away and help her to see the good things in life or at least hold her in his arms and be by her side.

It's a special connection a master has to his Padawan and a Padawan to his master, but their line got broken years ago as she had left him and then seeing her again like this... it hurt a lot.

He watched her and time passed, but he didn't care even though he had a lot of other stuff to do. The only thing that mattered was Ahsoka to get better really soon. Skywalker sat outside of Ahsoka's room the whole night She slept peacefully and didn't move one inch. In the morning Master Che came and Skywalker looked up as he noticed her. He didn't sleep last night. He just sat on the chair and waited for Ahsoka to wake up.

"She will wake up every moment, but you will wait here!" she said before she entered the room Ahsoka was in. She put one of her hands on Ahsoka's head and the other on her chest. Then she closed her eyes, fell into meditation and let the force run through Ahsoka. Anakin watched how the Jedi healer tried to heal Ahsoka. He stopped watching her as he felt the presence of his old master and so he turned around to face him. Obi-Wan stood next to him and looked at Ahsoka.

"Did she wake up yet?" he asked worriedly.

"Yes, she was awake for a few minutes yesterday evening." Anakin answered thoughtfully. They both starred at her for a couple of minutes. Master Che opened her eyes again and let her hands go of Ahsoka. The next minutes Master Che stood next to Ahsoka's bed and Ahsoka started moving her head and hands.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or Star Wars the Clone Wars.

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**Chapter 2:**

Anakin saw it and speeded into the room to his Padawan. Master Che looked at him

"Go out!" she said strictly, but Anakin refused to do so. He stayed next to Ahsoka and Master Che said again with more power in her voice "Outside, now!"

Only when Obi-Wan stood in the door and told him to get out he did so. Worriedly he watched from outside how Ahsoka opened her eyes slowly. He put his hand against the glass wall and closed his eyes. He tried to show Ahsoka he's there for her. Her eyes opened and she looked away automatically. She starred at the wall on her right and did nothing except breathing. Master Che put her hand carefully on Ahsoka's left shoulder and the other hand on Ahsoka's left hand.

"Ahsoka, here's Master Che, listen to me! It's okay to be scared now, but you have to know you're safe here. We have found you and brought you back into the temple. Ahsoka, you're in the Jedi temple, you're safe here. It's over. Everything is going to be okay now." Master Che looked over to Anakin and gestured him to come slowly in, and so he did.

"Do you want to see your old Master?" Master Che asked warmly, trying to tell Ahsoka it would be good to see him. Anakin came in and stood next to Ahsoka. He grabbed her hand.

"Don't force her to do anything." Master Che said with a warning look before she disappeared.

Anakin nodded and sat down on a chair. Ahsoka automatically turned her head around, so she didn't have to face her old master. Kenobi who stood still outside sighed before he also left them alone. Anakin petted her hand and for a moment he just sat next to her in silence. Remembering the old times he started smiling again since a long time. During the clone war he had almost spent every day by her side, he always having her back and her always having his. The reckless dream team with no fear. He thought about the first time they met each other all this years ago. He had been on Christophsis with his old Master Kenobi and they had sent their ship back to the republic fleet to get ordnance, but instead of clones coming out of the ship when it had landed like they had expected it, the ship only had one passenger. The young fourteen years old Jedi apprentice. First he had refused to take her as his Padawan learner, but after they had been on their first mission together he had taken her as his Padawan and in time he has found out it wasn't as bad as he thought to have someone always by your side. Then a few years later she had said good-bye. He could still hear her last words like she just told him. He remembered every of her words and they came back to him right in this moment like it just happened. 'I'm sorry, master, but I'm not coming back.' 'The council didn't trust me, how can I trust myself?' 'I have to sort this out on my own, without the council and without you.' It was like she stood in front of him outside the temple with her pained eyes and he tried to keep her with him, but in the end he admitted he would understand her decision. He thought about it and a single tear came up to his eye. He looked at his former Padawan. 'How could I have let this happen to you?' he thought.

Ahsoka didn't move, she just laid there on the bed and tried not to look at anyone. She starred at one of the walls where nobody else was. She wasn't comfortable with the situation, being back at the place she didn't want to see again, the place all her yesteryears are buried. It was like she was thrown back into her past, the past she tried to forget, but forgetting hadn't worked the last years. She thought way too often about everything she left behind, but at most her master, her friend, the only one who believed in her. And as she was held captive she kind of wanted to go back to the times she had lived in the temple or at least it had been like that in the beginning, later she just wanted to die, she just wanted the pain to end. Ahsoka tried not to cry, but she was close to tears. Anakin noticed that and put his hand on her cheek what made her shiver. He rubbed his thumb over her cheek and tears began to fall down her cheeks. He put her head carefully on one of his arm and laid down next to her on the bed. Her head on his shoulder, his left arm holding her left hand and his right arm holding her right hand. He held her hand tightly and his chin laid over her forehead.

* * *

Anakin stayed with her the whole time.

"Hey, Snips, it's okay." he kept telling her, but the tears didn't stop streaming down her cheeks. He sighed.

"Ahsoka, I'm here for you. You're out of this hell. See, I know you probably don't want to be here in the temple, but it's better than in the old, scary building. Nobody will hurt you here. We're just here to help you, but you have to let us help you, otherwise it won't work. Ahsoka, you know you can trust me. I won't let anyone hurt you. See, I just want you to feel better. And here you're safe. I'll protect you, Snips. I'm here for you."

After he finished his little speech Ahsoka pressed his hand with her healthy one, but immediately put her hand away in shock as she noticed what she's just done. Anakin couldn't help but smile about it. He grabbed her hand again.

"Don't be scared, Ahsoka, it's okay. You don't have to be afraid. I won't hurt you." She still didn't look at him, but Anakin could see a tear running down her face. He wiped it away.

"Everything is going to be okay." he told her and she nodded slowly.

"Do you want to rest a bit?" he asked and she nodded again.

"Shall I leave?" he questioned and she nodded even though she hesitated at first.

"I'll come later again, okay?" He left then. She closed her eyes and Anakin waited outside sitting on a chair.

Then came Master Che in.

"How's she?" she asked him and looked at Ahsoka.

"She's now asleep, but she cried most of the time." Anakin answered worriedly.

"Good." Master Che replied.

"Good?" Anakin got up and looked at her furiously.

"Yeah, good! Skywalker, calm down. It means she trusts you." Master Che explained.

"Would she cry in your presence if she doesn't trust you?" she asked him and he had to admit she was right. He sat back down.

"I just wish she would be ... ugh ... normal ... again. She's so afraid of everything." he said more to himself than the Master Che, but she replied anyway.

"That needs time, Skywalker. Give her the time she needs to recover." Anakin sighed. Master Che left again and Skywalker waited outside for her to wake up, but it took so long, too long. He's always been impatient. After around 1 hour he went back in. He sat down next to her and just starred at her face for the following hours. She moved slowly and then opened her eyes. She accidentally looked at him for a moment and immediately regretted it and looked away.

"Hey, it's okay." he said after he noticed and grabbed her hand.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Ahsoka. I'd never hurt you." He petted her hand and she sighed quietly. He put a hand on the right side, the burnt side, of her face.

"Look at me, Snips." he told her calmly. She turned her head in his direction, but didn't look at his face.

"Well, that's at least a good start." He smiled. He wiped the tear away that had escaped her eyes.

"Hey, it's alright. Do you remember who I am?" he asked and she nodded carefully. He smiled.

"Good." he paused, "Did I ever hurt you?"

She seemed to think for a moment and then an almost inaudible "No" escaped her lips.

"See," he smiled, "and I'm not going to start now. I could never hurt you, Ahsoka, never!" he told her while he squeezed her hand tightly. There was a moment of silence before she looked carefully up at him. She was scared as hell, but she was brave enough to do it. She didn't look straight in his eyes, but she looked at him and that made him smile happily. He couldn't stop smiling about what she has just done.

"Hey, I'm proud of you." he told her meaning every word of it. He moved her hand up to his mouth to kiss her fingers. Her gaze followed his movements the whole time, not wanting to miss anything. As his lips touched her fingers she flinched away for a second, but then let him go on fully trusting him. He leaned back more calm and watched her for a bit. Still a bit insecure her gaze fell to her hands not wanting to look him in the eyes. Her hands were still in his and he petted them carefully.

"You know I am proud of you. Not just that you looked at me, but that you were brave enough to make your own decisions, and I'm proud of you because you managed to survive in this hell. I'm so proud of you, Ahsoka." he smiled and she looked back at him and eventually smiled as well for a couple of seconds.


End file.
